Winter Break: Part II

It started raining on the way up to Tahoe...the first signs of a big storm coming to the valley.There wasn't a snowflake on the road when we checked into our first hotel, the Cal Neva. But Wednesday morning, we found our poor little car buried:

This was the first of many snow+car related adventures for us two unprepared "city slickers." We dug out the car (Rob had smartly put the chains on the night before as a precaution), swung by a gear shop for some foul weather goggles and hit our first nordic trails. Four feet of fresh powder was a challenging way to kick off the cross-country ski trip. We emerged from the backcountry a few hours later with a couple big bruises!

Dinner and hot tubbing with our friends Bill and Leslie at their Truckee home that night. It was nice to relax after our first day on the snow.

Thursday was a lot easier! We drove south to the Tahoe XC trails and started the day with a lesson just to make sure our skills were in line. Turned out we were just fine! I didn't fall once on the groomed trails during our first 10+ mile day. We had a beautiful view of the lake from one of the trail top warming huts:

Such a cold day! Rob and I checked in that night to our second hotel for the week, an icy little cabin with a warm stove at Rustic Cottages.

Friday morning, we drove up to our friend's house in Truckee for a day on the backcountry trails. Bill and Leslie are serious skiers, so I was happy that we just managed to keep up with them on the snowmobile tracks and foot-deep powder out to a vista overlooking the Truckee River. Back at their house for lunch and some more hot tubbing. Worn out from all our skiing, we picked up supplies for dinner and had a quiet New Year's Eve at the cabin with a bottle of champagne.

Rob and I headed back to XC on Saturday for our longest day of skiing yet. We were out in the snow for about six hours, with a long break in the lodge for lunch and tea. We did some challenging routes this time. My downhill technique is starting to improve a bit! I only fell once on the steepest downhill route.

Sunday, time to head home. Rob and I were up early to get one last bit of skiing in before driving back to San Francisco. It was icy along the beach, but the views of the lake were breathtaking!

Traffic wasn't too bad and we made it home around 3:30. So nice to be in our own space again after such a long trip. Lots of laundry and errands to get back on track for the real world.